


All Honesty

by LadyAJ_13



Category: Grantchester (TV)
Genre: (off-screen) - Freeform, Gen, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21703855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAJ_13/pseuds/LadyAJ_13
Summary: “Sorry, Cathy. Is Geordie in?”She looks at him, her face morphing from worry to curiosity and settling into a kind of blank, icy look he’s never seen on her before. “No,” she says shortly. She spins on her heel, leaving the door open behind her. “He isn’t.”
Relationships: Sidney Chambers & Cathy Keating
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	All Honesty

He hops up the familiar steps and bangs on the door. The hallway light seeps from underneath, and he watches the way the shadows grow until it’s blocked completely. At the scrape of a key in a lock, he steps back slightly so as to not tower over Geordie when he gets the door open.

“Geord-” he starts, but it’s not Geordie. It’s Cathy. “Sorry, Cathy. Is Geordie in?”

She looks at him, her face morphing from worry to curiosity and settling into a kind of blank, icy look he’s never seen on her before. “No,” she says shortly. She spins on her heel, leaving the door open behind her. “He isn’t.”

She heads back towards the kitchen, and he steps into the warm hallway, easing the door shut quietly so as not to wake the children. It’s late to call, well past the hour when he should be in bed himself. But the latest murder kept spinning in his mind, driving him up, and then out. He follows her through to the kitchen, and she automatically pours him a tea in his usual cup. She sets it on the table with the milk jug for him to help himself.

“He said he was with you.”

She sits in her usual chair, calm and collected. He looks down, fiddling with the jug, wondering what to say.

“You don’t have to cover for him,” she says softly. Seeing the look in his face, she adds, “you don’t have to curse him either. Not for my sake.”

The only thing to do seems to be to take the chair that is Esme's when she’s around, and his when she isn’t. The cup is warm between his hands, and he sits quietly as Cathy stares into the depths of her own tea.

“I thought I had one of the good ones,” she says. “Then after a year or two of marriage, I thought - are there any? But maybe I at least had one of the clever ones.” She fixes him with her gaze. “He’s a policeman. Plenty of reason to be out at all hours, even more so after taking up with you and the wild scrapes the two of you get yourselves in to. I thought he’d use that, if he needed to. But I thought he’d be clever about it.”

The anger seeps back into her tone, fuelled by the wetness gathering in her eyes. “I thought he’d make it easy for me to pretend,” she spits. “Even better, leave me oblivious.” She laughs, suddenly, without humour. “I’m sorry. Crying on you like a parishioner. You get enough of this-”

He captures her hand where it shreds the edges of today's newspaper with his; a warm presence, nothing more. He’d do it for anyone, but it feels different with her, someone he’d call a friend. Here in her kitchen, at midnight, as her husband plays away. “It’s okay,” he says.

She sniffs, and pulls her hand back to dab at her eyes. Maybe she’d felt the undercurrent too, and wanted no part of it. “It’s not,” she replies with a sad smile. “But it is what it is.”

She stands, busying herself with returning the milk to the fridge and drying teaspoons that had been left on the rack. He recognises it for what it is - a dismissal - and stands too, brushing his hands on the front of his trousers.

“I should go.” He wants to say more, but suddenly every option seems fraught with double meaning. Either too personal, or too much the reminder of their missing link – where he is. What he's doing.

“I’ll tell him you came round,” she says. It’s a brave move. It will break Geordie's alibi, bring everything into the light whether she wants it there or not. “I assume it’s important?”

He stares at her for a long time, until it's speak or leave, because it's gone on too long. “No,” he says finally. “It can wait. I’ll call, in the morning.”

She nods, head hung low and fingers fiddling with the tea towel. “Thank you,” she says, and he didn’t think they were close but something about those words here, now, splinter shards within him. She sees him to the door, and as he stands on the threshold, half in, half out, he brushes her sleeve - a barely there touch.

“He’s a fool,” he says roughly.

She turns, and the smile seems more natural now - but whether she’s really okay, or just putting on her act, he doesn’t know. She shrugs as he steps backwards into the cold of the night. “Men often are,” she says, closing the door firmly.

He walks away, because what else is there to do? But what had seemed so important – realising the father lied about his alibi – is now buried beneath a turmoil of other thoughts. How could Geordie do this? To her? He pauses at the corner, taking one last look at the house. While the lamps burn, anyone would think a happy family slept tucked up inside.

The last light clicks off, plunging the road into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure why this popped into my head the other evening, especially as I haven't watched the show in months. Maybe I'm getting excited for the new season! I assume that'll be January.
> 
> Sorry, rambling - let me know if you liked it :)


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